** [[Literature/TheStand M.O.O.N., that spells]] "Magic People With Mental Conditions"... The sort that ward off [[BigBad evil]] [[CosmicHorrorStory interdimensional]] [[TheAntichrist apocalyptic]] [[EvilOverlord overlords]]. They also tend to be [[TooDumbToFool secretly wise]] characters who have KarmicProtection against the villain.

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** [[Literature/TheStand ''Literature/TheStand'': M.O.O.N., that spells]] spells "Magic People With Mental Conditions"... The sort that ward off [[BigBad evil]] [[CosmicHorrorStory interdimensional]] [[TheAntichrist apocalyptic]] [[EvilOverlord overlords]]. They also tend to be [[TooDumbToFool secretly wise]] characters who have KarmicProtection against the villain.

** The autistic kid in ''The Regulators'' is a telepath.** The intellectual disabled "Duddits" from ''Dreamcatcher'' has a [[PsychicLink telepathic connection to his friends]] and is [[spoiler:able to help fend off the alien invasion. In the movie he was "off" because he actually was an alien]]... apparently.

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** The autistic kid in ''The Regulators'' ''Literature/TheRegulators'' is a telepath.** The intellectual disabled "Duddits" from ''Dreamcatcher'' ''Literature/{{Dreamcatcher}}'' has a [[PsychicLink telepathic connection to his friends]] and is [[spoiler:able to help fend off the alien invasion. In the movie he was "off" because he actually was an alien]]... apparently.

* ''A Wizard Alone'', the sixth book in the YoungWizards series, centered around an autistic character who was portrayed as locked up in his own head on account of being autistic (which is a very inaccurate portrayal of what it is like), but was taking advantage of this writers' error to lock up the BigBad in there with him. A little off in that being autistic didn't seem to give him a lot, otherwise, and was basically treated as something awful that'd been sicced on him by the Forces of Entropy and a metaphor for people closing themselves off because of a trauma such as grief. [[spoiler: In the end he pushes it off on [[strike:Satan is everywhere]] the Lone Power and becomes a normal wizard, apart from his special ability to be two places at once, which is caused by being a conduit for holy power. Which is unrelated to the autism, incidentally, or at least not ''said'' to be related.]] Something like that.

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* ''A Wizard Alone'', the sixth book in the YoungWizards Literature/YoungWizards series, centered around an autistic character who was portrayed as locked up in his own head on account of being autistic (which is a very inaccurate portrayal of what it is like), but was taking advantage of this writers' error to lock up the BigBad in there with him. A little off in that being autistic didn't seem to give him a lot, otherwise, and was basically treated as something awful that'd been sicced on him by the Forces of Entropy and a metaphor for people closing themselves off because of a trauma such as grief. [[spoiler: In the end he pushes it off on [[strike:Satan is everywhere]] the Lone Power and becomes a normal wizard, apart from his special ability to be two places at once, which is caused by being a conduit for holy power. Which is unrelated to the autism, incidentally, or at least not ''said'' to be related.]] Something like that.

* One of TheBabySittersClub's clients was an Autistic girl who couldn't talk unless she was asked to name a date or if singing was part of the music she heard (she was a piano savant). At one point her sitter discovers that a neighborhood boy was charging other children to see the freaky savant girl.

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* One of TheBabySittersClub's Literature/TheBabySittersClub's clients was an Autistic girl who couldn't talk unless she was asked to name a date or if singing was part of the music she heard (she was a piano savant). At one point her sitter discovers that a neighborhood boy was charging other children to see the freaky savant girl.

* [[TheMillenniumTrilogy Lisbeth Salander]] is a combination of TheRainman, DarkActionGirl, and a healthy serving of BrokenBird. She's incredibly withdrawn and doesn't get on well with others (to the point where she was legally declared mentally incompetent), but she has a PhotographicMemory and extraordinary talents for hacking and working with machinery and can dig up practically ''any'' information about someone given enough time. In the books she is speculated as being an Asperger, but she doesn't really fit the definition given the calculated ruthlessness, flexible independence, and lack of anal-retentive compulsions. The author himself, in talks with his editor, stated that he saw her more as a borderline sociopath with incredibly bad upbringing circumstances, which would fit better, or how he envisioned that a modern-day Literature/PippiLongstocking [[TruthInTelevision might turn out after growing up (as a mentally disabled orphan) in the Swedish bureaucratic system]].

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* [[TheMillenniumTrilogy ''Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy'': Lisbeth Salander]] Salander is a combination of TheRainman, DarkActionGirl, and a healthy serving of BrokenBird. She's incredibly withdrawn and doesn't get on well with others (to the point where she was legally declared mentally incompetent), but she has a PhotographicMemory and extraordinary talents for hacking and working with machinery and can dig up practically ''any'' information about someone given enough time. In the books she is speculated as being an Asperger, but she doesn't really fit the definition given the calculated ruthlessness, flexible independence, and lack of anal-retentive compulsions. The author himself, in talks with his editor, stated that he saw her more as a borderline sociopath with incredibly bad upbringing circumstances, which would fit better, or how he envisioned that a modern-day Literature/PippiLongstocking [[TruthInTelevision might turn out after growing up (as a mentally disabled orphan) in the Swedish bureaucratic system]].

* [[TheMillenniumTrilogy Lisbeth Salander]] is a combination of TheRainman, {{badass}} DarkActionGirl, and a healthy serving of BrokenBird. She's incredibly withdrawn and doesn't get on well with others (to the point where she was legally declared mentally incompetent), but she has a PhotographicMemory and extraordinary talents for hacking and working with machinery and can dig up practically ''any'' information about someone given enough time. In the books she is speculated as being an Asperger, but she doesn't really fit the definition given the calculated ruthlessness, flexible independence, and lack of anal-retentive compulsions. The author himself, in talks with his editor, stated that he saw her more as a borderline sociopath with incredibly bad upbringing circumstances, which would fit better, or how he envisioned that a modern-day Literature/PippiLongstocking [[TruthInTelevision might turn out after growing up (as a mentally disabled orphan) in the Swedish bureaucratic system]].

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* [[TheMillenniumTrilogy Lisbeth Salander]] is a combination of TheRainman, {{badass}} DarkActionGirl, and a healthy serving of BrokenBird. She's incredibly withdrawn and doesn't get on well with others (to the point where she was legally declared mentally incompetent), but she has a PhotographicMemory and extraordinary talents for hacking and working with machinery and can dig up practically ''any'' information about someone given enough time. In the books she is speculated as being an Asperger, but she doesn't really fit the definition given the calculated ruthlessness, flexible independence, and lack of anal-retentive compulsions. The author himself, in talks with his editor, stated that he saw her more as a borderline sociopath with incredibly bad upbringing circumstances, which would fit better, or how he envisioned that a modern-day Literature/PippiLongstocking [[TruthInTelevision might turn out after growing up (as a mentally disabled orphan) in the Swedish bureaucratic system]].

See also ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder, for a truly exaggerated take on the subject; CrazyAwesome, for utter insanity as opposed to a simple mental disorder; GeniusDitz when the disability is just plain stupidity, and NeurodiversityIsSupernatural for if the character's "gift" is a superpower. Can overlap with UsefulNotes/HighFunctioningAutism.

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See also ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder, for a truly exaggerated take on the subject; AbsentMindedProfessor and TVGenius, for somewhat milder takes; CrazyAwesome, for utter insanity as opposed to a simple mental disorder; GeniusDitz when the disability is just plain stupidity, and NeurodiversityIsSupernatural for if the character's "gift" is a superpower. Can overlap with UsefulNotes/HighFunctioningAutism.

Oh, and savant skills aren't always associated with autism to begin with. The person "Rain Man" was based on, a savant named Kim Peek, was not autistic.

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Oh, and savant skills aren't always associated with autism to begin with. The person "Rain Man" was based on, a savant named Kim Peek, was not autistic.autistic.[[note]]Rather, he had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FG_syndrome FG syndrome]], an X-linked genetic disorder that causes serious physical and mental abnormalities in the affected.[[/note]]

* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Rose Red'', Annie Wheaton is too autistic to really speak to anyone, but she is also [[PsychicPowers telekinetic and telepathic]]. See also Literature, above.

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* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Rose Red'', ''Series/RoseRed'', Annie Wheaton is too autistic to really speak to anyone, but she is also [[PsychicPowers telekinetic and telepathic]]. See also Literature, above.

* Genetic scientist Anton of ''[[Literature/EndersGame Ender's Shadow]]'' says he was inspired by Rainman-like savants, who showed him the human brain could be far smarter than it typically was. But that intelligence always comes with a cost: in the case of the children he genetically enhances ''in utero'', it's a [[CastFromLifespan drastically reduced lifespan]].

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* Genetic scientist Anton of ''[[Literature/EndersGame Ender's Shadow]]'' ''Literature/EndersShadow'' says he was inspired by Rainman-like savants, who showed him the human brain could be far smarter than it typically was. But that intelligence always comes with a cost: in the case of the children he genetically enhances ''in utero'', it's a [[CastFromLifespan drastically reduced lifespan]].

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